1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an inkjet recording apparatus or other image forming apparatus, and an image forming method, whereby high-quality images are formed by improving the fixing characteristics of ink by combining two types of liquids on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-218772 discloses an inkjet recording apparatus which is capable of obtaining high-quality images by suppressing bleeding and feathering through the use of a treatment liquid which causes the coloring material in an ink to become insoluble or to aggregate. More specifically, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-218772 discloses technology which increases the permeability of the solvent, which is separate from the coloring material, when two liquids are combined, by reducing the surface tension of the treatment liquid, while also preventing bleeding of the ink by increasing the surface tension of the ink, and which also prevents feathering between colors by raising the fixing properties of the mixture generated by the two liquids. Under proposed specific conditions, the surface tension of the treatment liquid including cationic material is 25 to 30 dyne/cm and the surface tension of the ink containing a dye having anionic material is 33 to 45 dyne/cm.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-218772 provides technology aimed at preventing bleeding and feathering between colors; however, it does not contemplate the deformation of the dots formed by liquid droplets on the surface of the recording medium, or the occurrence of non-uniformities in recording density caused by mutually adjacent dots (in other words, droplet deposition interference). When printing at high speed, the droplet deposition interval between adjacent dots is extremely short, and a successive ink droplet (ink for forming a dot adjacent to an existing dot) is deposited before an ink droplet deposited previously on the recording medium has completed fixing. In this case, the mutually adjacent dots in droplet form interfere with each other on the recording medium, and furthermore, they may aggregate and unify.